EEA Family Permit - Reapply or Appeal

[clayyoung14]

Good afternoon everyone! My partner and I are currently living in France and we are seeking advice on our EEA Family Permit application. He is British and I am American and we are attempting to utilize an EEA Family Permit for us to return to Scotland. We applied early January 2014 and were denied due to the new regulations requiring us to demonstrate our "centre of life in the EU". Unaware of the new requirements, we focused on proving our relationship instead of focusing on our integration into the EU. We were wondering if anyone had experience with the appeals process and/or if you recommended we reapply with new documentation instead of appealing the decision.

We originally intended to apply after three months but, after looking at the UKBA website, we interpreted it as it would take several weeks to process and applied after 2 months in France. The actual process took 3 days and we were obviously denied. By the time of our appeal or reapplication we will have lived in France for three months. My partner is working and we believe we have sufficient documentation to prove our integration. We just need to know if it is more appropriate to reapply after our appeal window (which may only take a few days again) or just appeal within the 28 days (which could take up to 6 weeks according to the UKBA website).

Any information or guidance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Names removed by mod.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

I have removed the information identifying yourself.

The longer you work in France, the more likely your application to return to the UK is to succeed. As you know, the regulations are pretty new and have not had time to bed-in yet. There does not appear to be a great deal of guidance available for such cases.

Have you considered using the immigration rules?

[clayyoung14]

Thank you for the reply and the information.

Unfortunately, we do not meet the criteria to go through immigration as his income does not meet the requirement.

[rosebead]

Reapplying is faster.

Or you can even appeal and while your appeal is pending, you can make another application:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... /#header20

[clayyoung14]

That is great to know! We did not realize that. Thank you rosebead!